Knee pain while squatting

[ghast]

Hi, Im 18 yrs old 152 pds about 10% bf

I started lifting abuot 2 months ago I started my squat at about 180 pds and my legs felt sore for several days after (walking like a chicken).
Gradually I moved up to about 380 pds last week, at 8 reps a set this still feels quite easy. I usually stick a bench under me and squat till my bum touches it.

However I am concerned about moving up to more weight. My legs no longer get sore. However my knees get very sore, for example if I do a squat with no weight, I can feel a soreness in my knee. I am concerned if I am doing too much weight for my bodyweight, yet I want to move up because I can do more and my legs are not feeling it right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[A FREAK]

i only feel this knee pain when i go heavy..so i just use knee wraps on my heavy days

 

[harhar]

Dont do squats on a bench. You squat too high that way and do damage to your knees. Remove the bench and go lower.

 

[majutsu]

Your problem is that you are not squatting properly. You are stressing your patellar tendon. You have weak hamstrings. Your knees are coming forward to about your toes. Your shins in a properly performed squat stay vertical, straight up and down. Your shins are leaning forward as you squat down. This is a very common problem for a young man. Squatting is very, very technical, and without proper training most people fuck themselves up. You are levering your lower back against the static strength of your patellar tendon, and one day soon it will pop. You also should not be squatting improperly to a bench, as this hurts the patellar tendon even more. If you are going to squat with forward drift, you should definitely squat "ass-to-floor" (ATF as they say), as this has been proven to reduce patellar injury. Also the bottom part of the lift will encourage your hamstrings and glutes to catch up. A better idea than that would be to get a 14" box and learn to box squat. Squatting to a bench increases patellar strain and lumbar compression. Box squatting is safe. Big difference. When you box squat you keep your shins vertical and sit BACK on the box so your shins never leave parallel. Release your hip flexors completely. Then push the bar back as you push up. You will feel an insane burn in your hamstrings the first time with great difficulty walking. Remember squatting properly does not activate quads much, so look into safety squats, bulgarians, lunges, etc for quad isolation, but that would actually intensify your problems.

In short, 3 tips for now in order of preference: 1)Box squat 2)Squat the way you do now, but ATF, or 3)Dump squats for leg presses.

Tips no matter which option you pick: 1) Good mornings 2) Glute ham raises - key! 3) Pull-throughs probably the 3 best ways to bring up your weaknesses.

In summary, your low back and hammies are weaks, so you are compensating for your weakness by ripping apart your knees.

 

[DZLS]

i'd say leavethe ego at home, and drop the weight until you can master the form...

no sense in damaging your body at such a young age...

 

[musketeer]

Yeah, I'd say a 200lbs or 210% increase in just 20 months is going to leave you a little 'sore'. I'd love to see a buck fifty teenager squat 380lbs 8 times, projecting a 1RM at something like 450lbs! All from two months of training.

Learn to front squat and se how the numbers go. You'll have to use perfect form in order to front squat wit hany real weight, andit will probably sort out the knee probs.